Environmental Protection Agency

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

US Bans Last Type of Asbestos in Use Here

Chrysotile asbestos, a carcinogen, is used in bleach, brake pads, and more

(Newser) - The EPA on Monday announced a comprehensive ban on asbestos, a carcinogen that's still used in some chlorine bleach, brake pads, and other products and that kills thousands of Americans every year, per the AP . The final rule marks a major expansion of EPA regulation under a landmark 2016...

Smuggling Greenhouse Gases Is Now a Thing

Michael Hart is first in US to be hit with such a charge after alleged transport of HFCs from Mexico

(Newser) - A Southern California man was arrested Monday on suspicion of smuggling refrigerants into the US from Mexico, and federal prosecutors said he's the first person to be charged with violating regulations intended to curb the use of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. The indictment alleges Michael Hart...

Food Waste Accounts for 58% of Methane in Landfills

More than 50 local officials are asking the EPA to help accelerate food scrap recycling

(Newser) - More than one-third of the food produced in the US is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That's why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to...

Biden Administration Weakens Wetlands Protections

Feds say SCOTUS ruling left them with no choice

(Newser) - The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government's jurisdiction over them. A new rule requires that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift...

EPA Allows California to Set Stricter Electric Truck Mandate

2035 deadline for EV sales is the same for cars

(Newser) - After mandating that all new passenger vehicles sold in California must be electric by 2035 , the state has gone bigger. The federal Environmental Protection Agency granted a legal waiver on Friday that lets California require that half of all heavy vehicles—including garbage trucks, tractor-trailers, and cement mixers—be electric...

Another Train Flies Off the Tracks in Fiery Accident

BNSF train carrying ethanol, corn syrup derails in Raymond, Minnesota; local homes evacuated

(Newser) - A train hauling ethanol and corn syrup derailed and caught fire in Minnesota early Thursday, and nearby residents were ordered to evacuate their homes, authorities said. The AP reports that a BNSF train derailed in the town of Raymond, roughly 100 miles west of Minneapolis, at about 1am, according to...

EPA Downgrades Air Quality in Colorado, Forcing Changes

Tweaked gasoline blend will cost consumers more

(Newser) - After missing a deadline last summer to improve air quality, Denver and the northern Front Range of Colorado are in for tougher federal regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that the areas now are classified as "severe" violators of air standards, the Denver Post reports. Refineries will have...

Supreme Court Hands Loss to Green Advocates

Justices limit EPA's ability to limit emissions from power plants

(Newser) - In a blow to the fight against climate change, the Supreme Court on Thursday limited how the nation's main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. By a 6-3 vote, with conservatives in the majority, the court said that the Clean Air...

They Were Sold the American Dream, Got a Toxic Mess

Residents of NOLA's Gordon Plaza are sitting on contaminated land

(Newser) - For an egregious example of environmental injustice, look no farther than Gordon Plaza, a housing development in NOLA's Upper Ninth Ward. As Darryl Fears writes for the Washington Post, the neighborhood's story begins in the late 1970s. "Racist housing covenants, redlining, and legal racial separation" had kept...

EPA Rule for Trucks Would Cut Some Emissions by 90%

Environmental groups urge moving quickly toward 100%

(Newser) - The Biden administration is proposing stronger pollution regulations for new tractor-trailer rigs that would clean up smoky diesel engines and encourage new technologies over the next two decades. The proposal released Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency would require the industry to cut smog- and soot-forming nitrogen oxide emissions by...

SCOTUS Hears Case That Could Doom Biden Climate Plan

Case against EPA could severely restrict power of federal agencies

(Newser) - The Supreme Court heard a case Monday that could end up limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency—and every other government agency. The court heard two hours of arguments on whether the EPA should have the authority to regulate power plants, and some members of the court's...

USPS Says It Can't Afford to Make New Fleet Electric

EPA calls plan to make 90% of new vehicles gas-powered a 'crucial lost opportunity'

(Newser) - The United States Postal Service is replacing its delivery fleet for the first time in 30 years—and critics including the Environmental Protection Agency aren't happy about plans to make most of the new vehicles gas-guzzlers. Under current plans, only 10% of the fleet's 165,000 new delivery...

EPA Says New Fuel-Economy Rule Is a 'Giant Step Forward'

Biden sets ambitious new standards

(Newser) - In a major step to fight climate change, the Biden administration is raising vehicle mileage standards to significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. A final rule being issued Monday would raise mileage standards starting in the 2023 model year, reaching a projected industry-wide target of 40 miles per gallon...

A Controversial Pesticide Is Banned From Food Crops

EPA prohibits use of chlorpyrifos, overruling the Trump administration

(Newser) - A long-running battle over a controversial pesticide is over—the EPA has banned the use of chlorpyrifos on food crops, reports NPR . The insecticide has been used for decades on crops, particularly soybeans, fruit trees, nut trees, broccoli, and cauliflower, per the AP . However, studies have linked it to neurological...

EPA's First Climate Update Since 2016 Is Dire

'Americans are seeing and feeling the impacts up close with increasing regularity'

(Newser) - The EPA's website dedicated to climate change indicators wasn't updated once under the Trump administration. Now, it's been given a facelift —and a disturbing one at that. The US is in unprecedented territory with the effects of climate change intensifying even since 2016, according to the...

Popular Flea Collar Linked to Pet Deaths, Human Injuries

EPA says Seresto flea and tick collars remain safe enough for sale

(Newser) - Hundreds of pet deaths and thousands of injuries to pets and humans have been linked to one of the most popular flea and tick collars in the US, according to documents from the EPA. However, there has been no warning about the Seresto collar made by Bayer and sold by...

Trump Administration Won't Tighten Air Quality Standards

EPA scientists were among the experts who wanted a change

(Newser) - Despite evidence of the harmful effects of air pollution on people with COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, the Trump administration has decided against tightening soot standards. The Environmental Protection Agency instead will lock in limits put in place by President Obama's administration in 2012 for another five years. Experts...

EPA Would Change Focus in Second Term

Andrew Wheeler says the agency will return to its previous approach

(Newser) - Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler on Thursday defended the Trump administration's record on protecting the nation's air and water and said a second term would bring a greater focus on pollution cleanups in disadvantaged communities and less emphasis on climate change. In a speech marking the agency'...

Plan to Release GMO Mosquitoes Moves Ahead

Florida approves experiment, though a last hurdle remains

(Newser) - A plan to set loose 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida and Texas will move forward despite concerns from environmentalists who liken it to a "Jurassic Park experiment." The non-biting male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes developed by British biotechnology company Oxitec contain a protein, passed to biting female...

Water Protections in Place for Decades to Be Gone Within Days

Lawsuits expected to follow rule change under Trump

(Newser) - In the end, government scientists couldn't sway him. President Trump's administration is expected to finalize a change to an Obama-era regulation protecting many US wetlands and streams as soon as Thursday. "More than half the nation's wetlands, and hundreds of thousands of small waterways" will lose...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser